There are a few hikes around the Bourkes Luck Potholes and at the Blydepoort Resort. In addition, on the eastern side of the Blyde Dam is the Hippo Trail, as well as several well marked trails on Mariepskop. If you are in the area, en route to Kruger, I am resident in Hoedspruit and am happy to point you towards what I think are worthwhile walks.

Thanks that would be amazing. We'll be in the Forever Blydepoort and would like to do a 4-5 hour hike with canyon views. Would be nice to also see the Tufa falls. After an early morning hike it would be nice to visit 1 or 2 waterfalls by car and grab a bite of good SA cuisine - any ideas. Will visit in August brrr! Where can one find maps online for the trails? Thanks so much for your help.

The Leopard Trail within the resort is well worth the effort. I don't know of any online maps but a map of all the walks is available at reception. The main tourist waterfalls are back towards Graskop and Sabie but another very worthwhile walk/scramble is to the Tufa fall on the Abel Erasmus pass, starting at the curio seller stalls below the main rock walls of Manoutsa. Then you could continue to the Waterfall Trail near Swadini, and perhaps do the Hippo Trail around the edge of the Blyde Dam, ending where the Blyde River flows into the dam. A path used to continue from that point back up to the Blydepoort Resort but has been closed for years now, and is very overgrown. Depending on how much time you have in the area, definitely consider Mariepskop too.
August may be chilly in the early morning but very pleasant for the rest of the day. SA cuisine? Lots of touristy restaurants but some of the locals swear by the Wildebeest Lapa near Kampersrus. I have not tried it myself yet.
Feel free to contact me directly with any more specific questions: (richardb@scschools.co.za)

Going to the Canyon end of November and planning on hiking the Hippo and Leopard trails and driving the Panorama route...Also wanting to see Waterval Boven but don't know if its doable in the limited time of 3 days - also driving from Lanseria and back to Jhb.

Hey Fats, you got more information about trails around that area? Contact me if you did please

Hi Chainey
Info I received from Deon as follows:

'You would be able to do Leopard and some other hikes that they have but not the Hippo Trail as that is at the bottom resort (Swadini). What I would suggest is that you do some of the shorter hikes at the resort you are staying at (all of them combined is a full day and makes up the complete Leopard trail but one can do sections of it, you can get maps at the reception).

Day two drive down the mountain to the Swadini Resort (once again reception will be able to give you directions +- 60min drive with some beautifull views) and then you can do the Hippo Trail (tough one and on some spots close to big cliffs but easily done in a day) or you can do just a little section of it and turn around, it is not a circular route so you go a bit and then turn around. Then at the same reserve there are two lovely short hikes, 1 a waterfall hike 2,5-3km and can be done circular, 2 is from their enviro centre and is also about 2.5km.

Day 3 you do the main view points on the panorama (this alone can take most of the day if you actually take the time to enjoy the scenery) I think trying to sqeeuze in Waterval Boven will limit the time you can do the panorama route.'